The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The evil Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) is riding through the Catania village when he sees that the peasants are dying of Red Death plague. Prospero asks to burn down the village and he is offended by the villagers Gino (David Weston) and his father-in-law Ludovico (Nigel Green). He decides to kill them, but Gino's wife, the young and beautiful Francesca (Jane Asher), begs for the lives of her husband and her father and Prospero brings them alive to his castle expecting to corrupt Francesca. Propero worships Satan and invites his noble friends to stay in his castle that is a shelter of depravity against the plague. When Prospero invites his guests to attend a masked ball, he sees a red hooded stranger and he believes that Satan himself has attended his party. But soon he learns who his mysterious guest is.

"The Masque of the Red Death" is a stylish movie directed by Roger Corman, with wonderful cinematography by Nicolas Roeg and based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe. Vincent Price has a great performance in the role of an evil Prince that worships Satan and learns that Death has no master and that each man makes his own Heaven and his own Hell. The Death is very similar to the character dressed in black of Ingmar Bergman's "Det sjunde inseglet" (a.k.a. "the Seventh Seal"). My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Orgia da Morte" ("The Orgy of the Dearh")

Fmovies: When Edgar Allan Poe wrote THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, I keep thinking he was thinking about some classic literature of the past. First, he is taking (and inverting) the basic plot of Boccacio's collection of short stories THE DECAMERON. If you recall, ten young people (five men and five women) of aristocratic families go to the country to avoid the plague in Florence. They entertain each other by each telling ten stories a night to the others - mostly dealing with love. They survive the plague as a result. Poe's Prince takes all his friends and fellow aristocrats out of a plague drenched countryside and they go to his castle in the hills. But at the end they all die. The other classic story is William Shakespeare's final great play, THE TEMPEST, wherein the master of the island and of all the elements nature (which he controls as a wizard) is Prospero, former Duke of Milan (pronounced Millon). Here, the Prince Prospero is unable to control nature and all die as a result.

The story THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is about the inevitability of fate and death - nobody can avoid it, no matter how hard they build up walls, and in the end they end up searching out for it (and finding it).

Roger Corman, as I mentioned in discussing his film about Richard III, took to Edgar Allan Poe as no other major director of horror had before him. But he had to expand it. Poe only wrote one novel, THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET (although he tried to do a second one called THE JOURNAL OF JULIUS RODMAN). Most of his writings are short stories, poetry, one play, and essays of criticism or philosophy. His best short stories are meant to be read within one hour or two at most. A great story, like THE TELL-TALE HEART, can be read with forty minutes, as it's story line is fairly concise and it is the choice and sound of words that carries it's best affects (i.e., the sound of the heart of the victim). So a filmed record of a Poe story should really be about thirty minutes tops, as visual effects replace (or enhance) the verbal ones.

Corman, therefore, had to expand the story line - good as Poe made it originally. First, he makes Prospero a Satan worshiper and sadist. Then, he adds a mild subplot involving one of Prospero's guests (Alfredo - Patrick Magee) and Prospero's dwarf jester Hop - Toad (Skip Martin), which is actually the plot of Poe's story HOP-FROG. There is also two expansions of the plot tied to the Prince: his kidnapping of Francesca (Jane Asher), Gino (David Weston) and Ludovico (Nigel Green) and the doomed hope of Juliana (Hazel Court) to achieve the goals of total acceptance by Satan in order to secure her hold on Prospero.

The end result is not bloated, phony-Poe, but a serious philosophical debate that the evil Prospero actually articulates: He explains to Francesca that he became a Satanist because of serious questions he had about the validity of Christianity. He sees the world as a mess, kept in order only by the powerful and wealthy. He feels that the God of Christianity (of "Love") is actually dead - killed centuries before. Whatever is running the world is not a God of Love. Francesca, of course, is a simpler type who keeps insisting that love and hope make life far more pleasant and bearable than Prospero's view implies. She is as set in her views as he is in his. This philosophical balance remains to the end, although until the end does come through, Francesca actually commits herself to trying to see it from Prospero's point of view (a

One of my favorite horror movies of all time -- and one of Roger Corman's best films, if not his best. The plot adaption from the original Poe story is fantastic, expanding on the plot to make it into a full length film without taking it out of the bounds of Poe's vision. The cast is great too. Price adds a sadistic, morbid class to the film, perfectly believable as the devil-worshipping Prospero. It reminded me of the days when he used to appear in history/literature films, like Elizabeth and Essex or the Three Musketeers. Jane Asher is great as the distressed peasant with a good heart, slowly being corroded by Prospero.

The wardrobe is another plus -- the ballroom outfits and masquerade attire does have one glaring mistake, but is fitting overall. The final scene is absolutely great film-making. The low budget of the film doesn't impede a true romantically creepy climax.

Unique and done very well.

The Masque of the Red Death fmovies. For this entry in his Poe series, Roger Corman decided to move the production to England. Not for artistic reasons, just because films made in England at that time got a government subsidy, and thus keeping his costs down. That's what I love about Corman - he brings a whole new meaning to the term 'penny pinching', and on the whole he has proved to cinema audiences the world over that great films don't need massive budgets and can excel on a shoestring. The Masque of the Red Death is another triumph over low budget, and sees horror's premier team of Vincent Price, Roger Corman and, of course, Edgar Allen Poe team up to great effect once again. This Poe story follows the evil Prince Prospero, a man who believes that his master, the Lord of Flies (Satan to you and me), will grant him and his friends that are taking refuge in his castle safety from the disease known as the 'red death' that is laying waste to the surrounding towns and villages.

This is a very different production to the earlier films in Corman's Poe cycle. The sets are much more lavish and on the whole, it's on a much larger scale. This also marks something of a departure for the Poe protagonist. As usual, he's portrayed by Vincent Price (the finest horror actor to ever live) but unlike the parts he'd played for Corman so far, this character is a strong and malicious presence, and therefore a far cry from the more pathetic characters he played films like 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. As usual, however, Price approaches this role with relish and completely makes it his own. His malicious tone fits the Prince Prospero character like a glove, and you cannot imagine anyone but Price in the role. The character is a typical Poe labyrinth and helps to maintain the interest and malicious intent that the film presents for it's running time.

The story is one of absolute terror, and through Corman's surreal use of colours and atmosphere, he makes the best of it and the result is a truly terrifying tale of faith, disease and death. There are many macabre events in the film, but none of them go over the top with gore, nor are they especially sleazy. The film is consistent throughout, and it's obvious that everyone involved knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with it. The story revolves around having faith, whether it be faith in God or indeed in the Devil. The Masque of the Red Death professes that every man creates his own hell, and the way that is presented on screen is magnificent, just like the rest of this great film.

For those of you who are fans of director Roger Corman's classic 50s sci-fi films like ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, or THE WASP WOMAN, you are going to be surprised that this is the same man who directed MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Superbly directed and beautifully composed, MASQUE is the first and best of Corman's Poe films of the 1960's.

Prince Prospero (played with just enough venom by Vincent Price) is an evil tyrant who hates his citizens and thinks nothing of burning their village to the ground. Holding a weekend get-together for his noble acquaintances, he discovers that the Red Death has manifested itself in the village around his castle. He kidnaps the beautiful Francesca (the wonderful Jane Asher), her lover Gino, and her father and keeps them in the castle with him. Prospero is a Satan worshipper as well and forces the princess, Juliana, to brand herself with an upside-down cross and sics his falcon on her when he feels like it. All the while, the Red Death decimates the land outside the castle and eventually makes its grand entrance during a masque.

Corman has certainly matured over the years. His filmmaking techniques are no longer shoestring or cheap. Here, it is obvious that he has developed a taste for color, atmosphere, tone, and lighting. MASQUE features his best work as a director and is only rivalled, in my opinion, by TALES OF TERROR, a later Poe anthology. Vincent Price proves once again why he has won the hearts of genre fans everywhere. I can only compare his performance here to that in HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, only better. Jane Asher does a splendid job here, but Hazel Court, Hammer's resident scream queen, has little to do here as Juliana. The final images of the film set during the masque are breathtaking and will stun those expecting cheap gothic thrills a la THE UNDEAD, an earlier Corman work.

MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is very deserving of a new VHS/DVD release. Fans of Price or Corman should definitely seek this out, as it is probably both mens' greatest work. Highly recommended.

Possibly the best of the Roger Corman-Vincent Price series of film adaptations of the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, 'The Masque of the Red Death' is a chilling and malevolent tale of decadent devil-worshippers holed up in a castle while the Red Death claims its victims in the village outside.

Vincent Price was a gloriously hammy actor who played horror roles with the utmost seriousness. His characterization of Prince Prospero in this movie is brilliant - a man without a soul or heart who is only conquered when a girl of equal faith enters his castle (the wooden Jane Asher as Francesca). In support Hazel Court as the would-be Bride of Satan Juliana, and Patrick Magee as the corrupt Alfredo are particularly worthy of note.

The dwarf's revenge on Alfredo during the masque is as chilling as anything which came before in films such as 1932's 'Freaks'; while the film shimmers with beautiful cinematography (especially the coloured rooms) and simmers with corruption. The combined effect is superb and makes the film a memorable experience.